Come On Over ..........

Can you believe it.... another post.

Thank you to all who commented on my last post. I we so appreciate all the well wishes that you have all given.

Kevin took James to his GI checkup today. They were so pleased with his progress. He has gained 3+ pounds and grew at least 1/2 an inch in a month. So we are on the right track with what we are doing. I am so glad that we are on the right track. James was talking up the Dr. and Nurses, so that pleased them too, to be able to see more of his true self.

Photos as prommised.....




The day didn't start out well. The truck was loaded last night ready to go and when I went out to leave it wouldn't start! The battery was dead! My MIL was coming with me and I was going to pick her up, but I had to call her to see if she could come and give me a jump. It didn't seem like it was going to work at first, but we giggled the wires and finally got the spark that we needed to be on our way. I still had to stop and get ice so my MIL stayed in the truck while I ran in so we didn't have to shut it off. I was later starting out than I wanted to be, but we made it on time and were able to set up before the 11:30 dead line.



It was a warm one today and tomorrow promises to be a warm one too. It wasn't too bad since they have 2 huge fans in our barn. Please if you come to HHFF make sure to come out to the McGill barn. There are so many nice vendors out there and it seems that the lack of ac is deterring people from venturing out there. If you miss that building you will be missing out on a lot of lovely things.



Well as you can see the set up went fairly well. Kevin put together all the lattice work framing. I really think that it stands out from all the others. I am so happy with it, but I can see already that I will need more room here in the future. :) I only have about 1/2 of my stock there since I ran out of time and had to take what I had done. I am thinking about using some of the vertical space, what do you think or would that take away from the display?



Well I better get to bed. I have another early morning. Keep your fingers crossed that the truck will behave tomorrow.

I hope that if you are local or anywhere in a decent driving distance that you will make the trip out to check it out. I don't think that you will leave empty handed. :) We have all had such a fun time. I really enjoyed it. I can safely say that I will be looking into more local festivals. Please, if you have any that you have been to that you think I should check out, let me know. I am up for any and all suggestions. I had only planned on doing 2 this year, but I might be convinced to do more. ;)

Still Alive & Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival

Yes folks, we are still alive in our neck of the woods. Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. It has been a busy time to say the least.





Some of you know that James has been sick off and on since Christmas. He just never seemed to get better after each bout with a virus/cold. We seemed to be going to the Dr. every time I turned around. They did blood work that came back perfectly fine, then there were stool testing and that came back fine too.

Finally the Dr. said that it was beyond what he could do and told us to head to Children's Hospital and he would call ahead so that all the sign in paperwork would be done for us. We arrived around 6 that evening in the ER.

After going through Dr. after Dr. they couldn't diagnose him and said that they would like to admit him and wanted to know if that was ok. Ummm yeah it is ok. I wanted my baby well. I know what they were driving at. They thought that we were starving him. He was so skinny. You could see his ribs, hip bones, spinal column, etc. Everything that he was eating should have made him as big as a barn (chicken nuggets, french fries, mac n cheese, etc.)

We finally got a room at 1 am and settled in and got James to sleep around 2. The team of Dr.s assigned to him were in bright and early that morning to see him. More blood work and tests all came back normal. They called in the Gastro. Dr. (told that he is the best you can get) and he said that he thought he had _____ the first time that he looked at him. We all thought that he was crazy even the normal rotation Dr.'s didn't think that was it.



So there was more blood work to be done. We had to wait for that to come back to get a diagnosis. Also there was a biopsy test to be done later in the week.





All in all we ended up spending a week in the hospital. I can safely say that if I ever had to take James to a hospital again it would be Children's. They were so great to him and us. I was very happy about the care that we all received.

After the blood work came back and he had his biopsy (that was so hard to watch them put him under) the Gastro Dr. was right. He now has a diagnosis of Celiac Disease.

Celiac Disease is an allergy to gluten (wheat and derivatives). It is amazing all the things that gluten is in. Not only is it in food, but it is also in cleaning supplies, make-up, sun screen, tooth paste, soaps, ect. We have had to clean the house out and start over. It hasn't been easy that is for sure. When you are used to paying .99 for a bag of pretzels and now they are $8.00 for an even smaller bag it puts a real strain on the wallet. We have found a few ways to save money, but it is still much more expensive than the "normal" food. We have all gone gluten free since cross contamination is a big concern. It is so easy to accidental put a spoon too close to another one and contaminate his food. Since we have been eating this way I have been feeling better too, so I have been told that I should be tested as well.

Here are a few pictures just a few weeks after he was out of the hospital. Before he would have never stood by himself (we had to carry him every where) or smiled (he was so sad and pathetic).

Don't worry the portable potty seat is clean. LOL


Jame and Kevin fishing at the Grandparents'


It is so good to see him feeling better, but man does he have the energy. He will go non-stop all day without a nap and still be going strong at 1 am. He exhausts me. LOL He is getting better every day. I am excited to see what the Dr.s think at his next check up. He looks like he has gained weight. You can't see the bones like when he was in the hospital and his cheeks have filled out. I just hope that he continues to progress.

In my "spare" time I have been dyeing yarn and rovings and getting things together to head to the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival. With the events that I just listed, I have been behind several weeks according to my original plan. It doesn't look like I am going to get done everything that I had wanted to, but I am not stopping until I have to.

I have been told that there are aprox. 80 vendors this year! I had a great time last year. There is supposed to be a Ravelry meet up as well and they have buttons at the welcome booth that you can buy so people know who you are on Ravelry. I know from last year that there are lots of pretty things that just have to come home with you. :)

The things that I will have include hand dyed yarns and rovings (some yarns in self striping and some in variegated), wool wash and scour, paper quilled sheep, and a few other things that you will have to come to see. I will be in McGill Hall, the one with the white lattice work booth (hopefully that is - if Kevin can get it finished to his liking before Friday). I am hoping to get a few pictures of some of the things that I will have. With today's thunderstorms they might not be the best. :(

If you are planning on coming and would like to sit and spin, knit, talk or what ever let me know so that I can bring a few extra chairs. I hope to see you there.

The dates and times are .... Friday June 6 12 - 7 and Saturday June 7 10 - 6. I have been told to use Google map because Mapquest has them in the wrong location.

So tell me what you all have been up to. Unfortunately I haven't had time or been able to keep up with blogs. I have been thinking of you all. I hope after Hoosier Hills things will get back to "normal" and I will be able to get back to my normal blog reading and posting. So please let me know what you have been up to and how you have been doing.

Hope to see you this weekend.

I've Been Keeping a Secret - Hoosier Hill Fiberarts Festival

I have been keeping a secret that I have been wanting to share with you. I have had to wait until the time is right and I was allowed to reveal it. Can you guess what I am talking about???
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No I am not pregnant!
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It is THIS!!! I am so excited about it.


On to more pictures from the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival.

There was sheep shearing. It was a bit nerve racking watching the sheep. It kept moving and I was nervous that it was going to get stabbed with the points of the scissors. It was a warm day so I know that the sheep had to feel better after it all, but the process didn't seem to be going smoothly. The sheep didn't want to cooperate.



This is a shot down one of the isles in Scott Hall. It was full of vendors.



I had to get a picture of these rugs. They were made from braided strips of roving. They were so neat. I just loved the colors that she had too.



Here is a rainbow sample of some of the yarns that were there. It just amazes me the different colors that you can get depending on the process that you use.



Susan is drooling over the Alpaca at Frontier. We were all loving this booth. The yarns and rovings were so nice.



This is a quick picture if The Trading Post. I made my first purchase here. You will have to wait until later to see what I got there.




Look at all that fleece. Different Things Farm had a wonderful selection. How does one choose from all that???



Finally here are 3 of us that met up. Susan and her friend Heather were no where to be found. I can't speak for them, but I had a blast. I am hoping to do it again next year. The dates for next year are already posted, so let me know if you are interested in meeting. I think I will try and get there on Friday.

With the smiles on all our faces it looks like we were having a good time, or maybe it was all the wool fumes.? =)

From left to right: Me, Beth and Kelli.

Back From the Festival - Blurb

I headed to the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival on Saturday. I had such a great time. I met Beth and Kelli. It was so great to finally put faces and voices to the blogs. I got many nice things. There was a good amount of stuff for a small festival. I am so glad that I went.

I have been hoping for some nice sun so that I can get some nice pictures of the things that I got. Can you believe that I didn't get 1 skein of yarn? I didn't get any yarn. While there was some pretty things, I just wasn't drawn to any of it.

Now roving, I got. Plus another fuzzy extra.

You will have to wait until I can get some pictures and get the others off the camera. Just wanted to drop a tease to let you know that there will be some gratuitous pictures of all things woolly and fuzzy coming soon.

I'm Back - Hoosier Hills Fiber Fest

First let me say to some of you that I have been commenting on your blogs. For some strange reason it isn't showing up. If I was a regular poster on your blog, I still am, it just isn't showing. I don't know if it is because of the new computer with all the new programing or what. I was told by Mandy of Mandys Knits that she was getting my comments, but for some reason they were going to her spam folder. So if you could please check your spam folders I might just be in there multiple times. So far the people that I have tried today are Knitter Bunny, Good Enough Mom, Boogie Knits, and Wendy Knits. None of them worked. It seems that if you post on Blogger or Typepad that I can leave a comment. I am stumped by what is going on.

So I did get a new computer/notebook. I decided on the Sony Vaio. It has IE 7 and Windows Vista so I am wondering if that has something to do with getting thrown into the spam filters. I have tried disabling and enabling the firewall and cookies and neither of them worked. I even tried to see if Firefox would work and nothing happened there. If you have any suggestions I am up for anything and if I am in your spam folder if you could please let me know so I don't go crazy over this, I would appreciate it.

I won't bore you with the details on the new computer unless you want to hear about it.

Wow so much has happened since I was actually able to sit down at a computer that worked for any length of time. There has been some knitting as well as spinning.

I have finished my first STR sock club kit. I have a picture of it on a CD somewhere so I will have to find where it is and post it at a later date. I have started my newest STR kit and only knit a few rows here and there since my new love seems to be spinning.

Speaking of spinning and all things fiber related. There is a fiber festival in Franklin, Indiana this weekend. It is the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival. I am so excited. I have been told that it sounds like a good one too. If anyone is interested in meeting up let me know and we can plan a time. I will be there on Saturday.

I have been asked by Susie to do a review of my Sonata. I will do that for you in my next post Susie. In the mean time go take a look at her Etsy shop.

Since I can't leave you with just words alone. I will leave you with a picture of what James did yesterday.



He had quite a bit of fun. I can say that he can wind the reel with the best of them.